What’s It About

Tess and Anna discover that lightning may indeed strike twice as they navigate the myriad challenges that come when two families merge.

MOVIESinMO REVIEW

Disney brings back the body-swapping madness with “Freakier Friday,” and honestly, it works better than anyone expected. Twenty-two years after Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan first switched places, they’re back with double the chaos and surprisingly more heart. This sequel doesn’t just copy the original formula—it expands it in ways that actually make sense. The story picks up with Anna Coleman (Lohan) now raising her own rebellious teenager, Harper, played by Julia Butters. Curtis returns as grandmother Tess, who’s trying to stay out of everyone’s business but can’t help meddling. The trouble starts when Anna falls hard for Eric, a British single dad whose daughter Lily absolutely hates Harper. These two girls can’t stand each other, which makes things awkward when their parents decide to get married after knowing each other for like five minutes. Everything goes crazy during a sleepover when a fortune teller accidentally curses all four women. But here’s the twist that makes this sequel clever: instead of just Anna and Tess switching bodies like before, everyone gets mixed up. Anna ends up in Harper’s body, Tess is trapped in Lily’s body, and these teenagers suddenly find themselves in adult quandaries they never anticipated. It may feel messy, but it’s the good kind of messy, which allows for genuine comedy to arise. What I found most impressive about “Freakier Friday” is that it manages to examine contemporary family dynamics better than most family films today. The original film from 2003 centered on a working mom who was trying to balance her career and parenting, which felt pretty limited to white suburban experiences. This sequel still centers on that same demographic, but it digs deeper into how families actually blend together in real life. Single parents dating, kids protecting their remaining parent, the fear of losing what little stability you have—these themes hit differently when you’ve seen how complicated families can actually be. Curtis absolutely steals every scene she’s in, which shouldn’t surprise anyone who watched her win an Oscar recently. When she’s playing a snotty British teenager trapped in an older woman’s body, she commits completely to the bit. She makes every physical gesture count, from the way she walks to how she holds her face when she’s disgusted by “old person” problems. The woman has no shame about looking ridiculous, and that fearlessness makes her performance infectious. Lohan seems more comfortable here than she has in years. Playing Anna as a grown-up single mom suits her better than trying to recapture her teenage energy from two decades ago. When the body swap happens and she has to act like a teenager again, she doesn’t try too hard to be the Lindsay we remember. Instead, she plays it like an adult who’s remembering what being young felt like, which feels more authentic and less desperate. The two young actresses, Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons, handle the adult-trapped-in-teen-body roles pretty well. Butters especially shines when she’s playing Tess’s personality while dealing with teenage social drama. Hammons struggles a bit with the British accent, but she nails the comedy of being horrified by having wrinkled hands and creaky knees. Both girls understand that the humor comes from the contrast between their young appearances and the old-lady complaints coming out of their mouths. The movie runs almost two hours, which feels too long for what’s essentially a simple story about learning to understand each other. The last thirty minutes drag as everyone learns their predictable lessons about family and compromise. A tighter edit could have kept the energy up without losing the emotional payoff. Comparing this to the 2003 original reveals how much family comedy has evolved, but also how some problems persist. The first “Freaky Friday” broke ground by showing a working mother’s struggles with balancing career and parenting, even though it only showed one very specific type of family experience. “Freakier Friday” expands the family circle but still operates within the same comfortable boundaries. These are upper-middle-class families dealing with first-world problems like choosing between Los Angeles and London, managing pop star careers, or planning elaborate weddings. The absence of meaningful diversity still limits who can fully connect with these characters. The family dynamics feel real within their world, but that world remains pretty narrow. When Harper worries about leaving her grandmother and her California lifestyle, or when Lily dreams of becoming a fashion designer in London, these concerns come from a place of privilege that not every family can relate to. The movie works hard to make their emotional struggles feel universal, but the specific circumstances of their lives reveal how insulated their experiences are. Still, the sequel improves on the original in important ways. The humor feels sharper and more aware of generational differences without being mean about it. When older characters jab about kids needing safe spaces or when teenagers make fun of parents for being on Facebook, it feels like a family jab, not culture war. The script manages to mock everyone without villainizing anyone, and Anna and Eric’s romance holds it all together as a sweet spine amidst all the chaos. Manny Jacinto brings genuine charm to the role without trying to be too perfect. Their relationship feels rushed in the timeline of the movie, but their chemistry makes it believable that two single parents would fall hard and fast when they finally find someone who gets their situation. Though “Freakier Friday,” has its limitations, what makes it work is how earnestly it takes the emotional stakes for all people involved, Harper isn’t being difficult for the sake of comedy, and she’s legitimately afraid to lose the only family unit she’s ever considered stable. Lily isn’t just being a snoot, she’s attempting to in someway honor the memory of her passed mother by rejecting her new family. Anna and Eric aren’t just rushing into marriage, they’re tired of being alone and desperate to create the family stability their kids need. The movie’s biggest strength is understanding that modern families come together in complicated ways, even when it only shows one type of family experience. The body-swapping gimmick forces everyone to literally see through each other’s eyes, which creates both the comedy and the emotional growth that makes the story work. “Freakier Friday” succeeds as crowd-pleasing entertainment that improves on its predecessor while maintaining the same fundamental limitations. It’s funnier, more emotionally sophisticated, and better acted than the original, but it still operates within a narrow view of what American families look like. For audiences who see themselves reflected in these characters, it offers genuine laughs and heartfelt moments. For everyone else, it’s pleasant enough but keeps you at arm’s length. The sequel proves that some formulas are worth revisiting when you have the right people involved and a script that understands what made the original work. Curtis and Lohan clearly enjoyed returning to these characters, and their enthusiasm carries the movie through its weaker moments. It’s the kind of family comedy that Hollywood used to make regularly but rarely attempts anymore—sweet, silly, and surprisingly sincere about the messy work of loving your family. Ultimately, Freakier Friday is a solid sequel that improves on the original while staying true to its spirit, even if it doesn’t expand its worldview as much as it could have.

OUR RATING – A FREAKIER 7

MEDIA

• Genre – Comedy
• Street date
• Digital – October 7, 2025
• BluRay/DVD – ‎November 11, 2025
• Video – 1080p
• Screen size 2.39:1
• Sound – English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Audio descriptive
• Subtitles – English SDH, French, Spanish

Extras

• Deleted Scenes – Check out the scenes that didn’t make the final cut.
  • Trevor’s New Song
  • Extended Dance Lesson
  • Anna Cancels Wedding
  • Pickleball Team Announcements
  • Beta Girl Backs Up Lily
  • Intensity Of The V’s
  • Blake Doesn’t Like What She Hears
  • Malibu
  • Eric Reads Tess’s Books
  • School Pickup
• Featurettes:
  • Making Things Freakier – More than two decades later, the band is back together! Go behind the scenes as returning cast members talk about reprising their roles. Learn about the stunts, taking on each other’s mannerisms – and how this film is a love letter to Los Angeles.
  • Where Were You When… – Join the original cast as they reflect on the fun and magic of the 2003 production and learn where new cast members were in 2003. Writer Jordan Weiss shares a great anecdote that reveals the fandom and staying power of the earlier classic.
  • Flashback Friday – This playful, narrated piece reveals the hidden nods to 2003’s Freaky Friday along with some “freakier” fun facts about the sequel.
• “Baby” Lyric Music Video – Catch this heartfelt lyric video that combines clips from the movie with behind-the-scenes production footage.
• Optional English SDH, Spanish and French subtitles for the main feature